Microsoft OneNote update transforms app into a digital dumping ground

Once the darling of digital note takers, especially on Windows Tablet PCs of old, OneNote has been struggling with the onslaught of Evernote and other newer and more popular apps and services. Microsoft has just released a new update to the app that tries to keep up with its competitors, at least in terms of integration with Android.

The highlight of this new version of OneNote for Android revolves around support for Android's sharing system. While this might sound like a trivial improvement, what it means is that users can take any content in any app and share it to OneNote, practically sending the app a copy of the content. Regular users of apps like Evernote and Springpad will be very familiar with this feature and might wonder what took the developers so long to implement such a standard feature. Any app that uses the Android sharing framework, including web browsers, photo galleries, and even screenshot utilities, will be able to send the captured data right into OneNote.

OneNote has also gained a new homescreen widget and support for homescreen shortcuts. The OneNote Recent Widgets lets users easily and quickly get access to notes that you have opened up recently. Furthermore, each page, section, or notebook can now be added to the homescreen as a shortcut icon, by simply accessing the feature from the note's expanded menu.

The new version of OneNote for Android is now available on Google Play Store and should be rolling out to those who have it installed. Owners of devices with multi-window support, such as a number of Samsung's smartphones and tablets, are also in for a treat as the app now supports Samsung's special multitasking feature.